Even Mo Montana!

With Reggie's Bucket-O-Dirt safely in my Challenger's trunk, I headed back west. I had nothing planned before my next "scheduled" stop in Idaho, so I just cruised along, wondering if I should attempt to beat my previous 150 mph sprint in Montana while listening to some tunes on the satellite radio. Boy, that device is certainly handy out in the middle of the boonies. I can remember listening to farm reports, Country & Western music, and the occasional news blurb when I had to scan the AM/FM radio, back in the old days. Even the old music cassettes got old after the second or third listening. For some reason, Wang Chung's Points on the Curve still reminds me of Eastern Oregon, since my last road trip in 1985.

I didn't have much luck finding a motel in Butte, Montana. Then again, I didn't look very hard. For some unknown reason, something was pushing me to go beyond. So, I kept driving. I decided to use my car's navigation system for a motel, and one was found up the road a ways in a town called Deer Lodge.

Well, the listed motel wasn't in Deer Lodge, after all. I guess I should spend the $199 to get the 2009 database updated. So, I looked around and first passed on a corporate chain place and found a small Mom & Pop joint. Unfortunately, they didn't have a room suitable for my needs. I was not about to chase Aleksandra out from under the bed at check-out time. But, in my search for lodging I did find an unexpected treasure. In the darkness I found the old Montana State Prison museum. That meant I HAD to find a place to stay, because my next day was instantly planned. I ended up getting a room at a corporate joint.

Now let me explain something first. I had read about the Old Prison Museum in a tourist pamphlet I had picked up in the vestibule of a Perkin's restaurant somewhere along the way. It looked like a cool place to visit, but a glance told me it was in some obscure place, probably not worth tracking down. Well, that wasn't true. It's actually just a stone's throw from the interstate. How I got the idea it was off in the boonies, I can't explain. Perhaps I was too hungry to read it carefully. Then again it could merely be the result of cranial flatulence. In any event, fate had drawn me to this spot, and I wasn't disappointed.


Now I know some of you won't click on the link provided, so I'll post a brief blurb of its history from their site:

"Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Montana Prison was built by inmate labor, this turn-of-the-century fortress was home to at least one member of Butch Cassidy's "Wild Bunch"...Stout iron bars slammed shut and locked for the first time on July 2, 1871. On that day, Montana's Territorial Prison in Deer Lodge incarcerated its first occupant...Emptied of prisoners in the late 1970s, the buildings stand now as silent sentinels to justice, a museum complex dedicated to law enforcement..."

Now I have visited prisons and jails before (DUH), but this was the first time to see one from the "Good Old Days". It was obvious that this place was built with no thought to "rehabilitation". It was strictly HARD TIME HOTEL.



It doesn't look very inviting, does it? The first inside the wall photo, is from the closest spot where a prisoner could approach the administration building without permission. One more step forward, and he could be shot by the guards.

The interior, cell block photo is on the sunny side. That's as bright as the prison gets. This was at about noon on a bright summer day.














A typical cell. (Yes, they did wear Stripes at one time).




And a women's cell.

































"The Yard" ...







and "The Hole".

The "Hole" was just a small, bare room in the lowest level. The only furnishings were two buckets: a water bucket and a "Honey Pot". Bread and water everyday except for a regular meal once a week.

SPAM!

Yes, it's OK to laugh. SPAM parking? No. My car isn't a can of SPAM even though I have been told I resemble a pork-like meat product.

It's a parking lot located in Austin, Minnesota home of Hormel meats (and other food stuffs) and one of the TWO manufacturing plants for SPAM in the USA. The third plant making SPAM is located in Denmark for the European market (under license).

You can't miss the factory.
Just follow the smell of tinned cat food, and you can't miss it. Why was I there? To visit...

The SPAM MUSEUM!

Yes, there really is a museum dedicated to SPAM, and I was there. Why?

I am not a particular fan of SPAM. It's an OK product. My father used to pack it on our fishing trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in Northern Minnesota and fry some up for breakfast. He was a WWII veteran and loved the stuff. Our pantry at home always had cans as far back as I can remember. So, partly in honor of him (Dad loved all Hormel products), partly because of the internet meme of SPAM, and just because I have moments of dorkiness, I could not resist a visit to the museum while I was in the area.

The museum was a wonder of corporate product history. I learned more about SPAM than I ever wanted to know, even while ignoring most of the exhibits. If you ever want to become informed about the history of American meat packing, this would be a good place to start.

So what exhibits did I look at? The WWII section was well done. Even going so far as to show what SPAM looked like when it was destined for the Soviet Union. There was one place where kids could time how long it takes to pack a can of SPAM. I swear, sections of the museum were a mini Disneyland featuring chopped up pig parts. They kept on stressing SPAM was mostly from pork shoulders. I guess mentioning pig sphincters and booger chutes would not be good a selling point. Not that I care. You know I love Coney Islands, and you know what wieners are made of. (If not, don't ask...they won't tell).

They even had a Monty Python Tribute to SPAM section. Really. I watched all of that presentation.

But the best part, was the museum gift shop. They had EVERYTHING with a SPAM logo on it. from bathrobes to bumper stickers. They even sold tins of every flavor of SPAM. The ironic thing is, that was one of the cheapest items there: $2.75 each. (and one of the few items Made in USA)

So what did I get?

Remember those machines where you put a penny in, with some coins, and rolled out a souvenir with some printing on the penny? Well, they had one of those machines there and I squashed some copper pennies into SPAM souvenirs. (Yes, they were pre-1980 copper pennies, not the newer copper clad zinc or whatever metallic crud they are). I go First Class, baby.



They were made right there, IN the museum (next to Hormel Corporate HQ) in the USA with American labor! Ya can't beat that!*

*Well, a blonde Viking firestarter might.